The Battle Of Books And Films

“To make a great film, you need three things – the script, the script and the script.” With the development of cross-media storytelling, films are made on the script of a book. While keeping the basic conflict same, a lot of other factors they change such as characters, story line, dialogues, etc. So, let me tell you how this is a very (very, very, very) bad idea.

FILMS AND BOOKS ARE INHERENTLY DIFFERENT. They are two different mediums. So there is bound to some difference in the ways in which they present information.

A book aims to impress upon the readers’ mind solely on the basis of the power of the word. The writer might be the ultimate master of his creation. But there is scope for the readers to draw their own interpretations. Since there are only literary cues for the story, the readers are free to draw their own scenes. Those who have completely immersed themselves in a book know that while your eyes register the words of the writer, the mind creates life-size scenes and the heart spins up a song to go along with it. Thus, reading a book is, in a way, like running a full-fledged production of your own.

A film, so, reaches out to the audience by diverse means. There is dialogues, actors, scenes, settings, costumes, music. And the result is rich in texture. Some even go as far as saying that this form of storytelling adds depth to the characters. You aren’t left in the dark, wondering what the absolutely adorable actor looks like. Or on what the heroine looks like the day, she gets married to the man of her dreams.

While we could go on eternally doling out the pros and cons, the bottom line is that books and films are two different ways of telling the same story. And we cannot compare both of them. While some people believe that movies, by adding extra inputs, take away the magic of imagination, others believe that this very fact makes films seem more realistic. This debate between films and books is an unending one, and all I have to say is that let’s just accept the fact that they’re different. Each stands firmly on its own ground, which is not lower than the other. If a book is a dream that you hold in your hand, then the movie is that dream transformed into reality.